
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



DDDDbm^ms 






AN ADDRESS 



^ 






VINDICATION OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT, 



FOR THE COURSE PURSUED IN 



SUBDUING THE SOUTHEEN REBELLION, 



DELIVERED IN 



Marshall's Hall, Bridgetown, Barbadoes, British West Indies, 



FEBRUARY 3, 1865, 



GEORGE ALKINS 



PHILADELPHIA: 
H. G. LEISENRING'S STEAM PRINTING HOUSE, 

No. 237 Dock Street. 
1865. 



AN ADDRESS 



VINDICATION OFTHE U.S.GOVERNMENT, 



FOR THE COURSE PURSUED IN 



SUBDUING THE SOUTHERN REBELLION, 



DELIVERED IN 



Marshall's Hall, Bridgetown, Barbadoes, British West Indies, 



FEBllUARY 3, 1805, 



OEOROE ALKINS 



PHTLADELPHIA : 

H. G. LEISENRING'S STEAM PRINTING HOUSE, 

No. 237 Dock Street. 

1805. 



E^4 5& 



W«8t. Ees. Hist. Boo 



LECTXIHE 



UKLIVEKED AT 



BARBADOES, W. L, FEB. 3, 1865. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: — 

I appear before you to-niglit in the cliaracter of an American 
citizen. Tlie name '"'■American citizen,'''' is one I am proud of. 
I say proud of, because I believe that while under the Aegis 
of the "Stars and Stripes," I am as safe, and entitled to the same 
protection, as under the glorious flag of Old England — the flag 
which, for a thousand years, has braved the battle and the 
breeze; that flag, which, wherever it appears, is entitled to, 
and receives respect ; that flag which waves over dominions 
on which the sun never sets, and which is the emblem of free- 
dom throughout the universe. The flag of the United States 
is also the emblem of freedom ; and, thank God, is soon, I fully 
believe, to float over a whole and undivided Union — a Union 
cemented by the blood of those heroes and patriots who fought 
for, and obtained freedom, in the days that tried men's souls ; 
in those good old days when the immortal Washington achieved 
a work, tliought by many to be impossible. Long may that 
flag wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave ! 



The only blot on the escutcheon of the United States, is being 
fast removed — 1 refer to slavery in the South. Many thou- 
sands of the slaves have been made free by the war which is 
now going on ; and which, I trust, will soon be over. General 
Sherman with his victorious legions, now holds and occupies 
the city of Savannah. Soon, I hope, the city of Charleston 
will fall into our hands. Next in order, perhaps, will be Rich- 
mond, which is encompassed by the armies of General U. S. 
Grant ; or, as he has been termed. General Unconditional Sur- 
render Grant. These two generals are worthy to fill a place 
beside the hero of Waterloo, the invincible Wellington. Now 
I do not wish you to understand by any remarks which may 
be made by me, that I glory in the war which has filled so 
many graves with warriors, both of the North and South ; 
which has drenched the once happy and peaceful fields of 
America with fratricidal blood, which has caused, in many 
cases, the father and the brother to raise their hands against 
each other in deadly strife ; as in the days of the lievolution — 

" When sons against their fathers stood, 
And children shed their parent's blood ;" 

for I deplore as much as any man can, the unhappy state of 
things that now exists; bat when the alternative of disunion 
or war was presented, I promptly accepted the latter, believing 
that a dismemberment of the States would be a far greater 
calamity than war. I still think so. " The ways of God are 
not as man's ways; His judgments past finding out." Both 
North and South have been, and are being punished by the 
Supreme Ruler of the universe, for the many sins they have 
committed. He is leading his people by ways which they have 
not known ; and I trust, and hope, will ere long restore to them 
the blessings of peace. The South is getting tired of this war ; 
the North wish it ended ; our mother country — England — 



wishes it closed. The whole world, in fact, I believe, wish for 
peace; and peace, I hope, will soon come. The dark clouds 
which have hung over our country, the land of my adoption, 
are fast breaking, and the light will soon appear. The South, 
I fully believe, would never have entered upon this war, but 
for the designing schemes of politicians ; men who would sooner, 
to use, and perhaps it is rather a profane expression, " reign in 
hell than serve in heaven ;" men who sought their own aggran- 
dizement; men who wished to obtain the balance of power. 
^Nfany of the political leaders of the South — extreme Southern 
States — long since boldly asserted, that each individual State 
possessed a sovereignt}^ paramount to that of the united com- 
monwealth of the Republic of the United States of America. 
Some, deluded by the artful sophistries of the subtle Calhoun, 
the apostle of the doctrine of State Rights, in avowing their 
political heresy, gave expression, it is believed, to an honest 
conviction : others, however, influenced by personal interests, 
sought only to gratify their ambition, or to soothe their disap- 
pointment, by creating a faction from which they hoped to 
obtain favors they had failed in extorting from the country. 

In the meantime the people of the Southern States, with, the 
exception, perhaps, of those of South Carolina, who had been 
misled by the persuasive plausibilities of their favorite, Cal- 
houn, continned to cherish a patriotic sentiment of attachment 
to the Union. AVhile the partisan leaders of the South were 
enabled, through the conciliatory concessions of northern poli- 
ticians, to wield the political power of personal and sectional 
advantage, they shrewdly disguised their selfish designs be- 
neath a mask of traditional regard for the Constitution of tlie 
United States. 

The North grew restless under its subservience to Southern 
domination, manifesting a desire for emancipation ; the partisan 



leaders of tlio Soutli became anxious lest they sliould lose tlie 
political mastery by which they had governed a nation in the 
interests of faction. The Southern leaders asserted their theory 
of State sovereignty with increased audacity, and threatened 
to exercise it to the destruction of the Union ; hoping to 
frighten the Northern people, who were known to be fondly 
devoted to the united country, into renewed submission to 
Southern control. 

The North rapidly gained in power through the natural in- 
crease of population and immense European immigration ; the 
South endeavored to balance this growing ascendancy by an 
increase of slave States. Texas became annexed to the United 
States at the expense of a war with Mexico, and established a 
slave State. An intrigue, though it proved abortive, was set 
on foot to force Spain into the sale of Cuba. 

The Missouri Compromise Act was abrogated for the pur- 
pose of admitting the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas as 
slaveholding States. The bloody strife which ensued between 
the friends of freedom, or the abolitionists, as they were then 
called, and the Southern slaveholders who had emigrated to 
those Territories with a view of perpetuating that curse of 
America, slavery, is familiar to all who perused the journals 
of that period. Thanks to an overruling Providence, Kansas 
became a free State. 

The Republican party was now formed, which nominated 
John C. Fremont, the eminent explorer, for President, 17th 
June, 1856, lie, although a native of South Carolina, was 
opposed to the extension of slavery, and in ftivor of free labor ; 
but objected to any interference with the rights of the Southern 
States as secured by the Constitution of the United States. 
Stirring political contests now took place. Fremont was de- 
feated! James Buchanan was elected President, and John C. 



Breckenridge Vice President. Enough is known of the admin- 
istration of Buchanan, both at home in the United States, and. 
wherever the Northern papers were read, at the time of the 
Eebellion, to stamp it with that disgrace which it justly de- 
serves. 

We now pass on to 1858, when Senator Jefferson Davis, 
now the President of the self-styled Confederate States, boldly 
avowed, in a speech at Jackson, Missouri, insurrectionary sen- 
timents; proving that the present Eebellion, of which he is 
the master spirit, had been with him for a long time a foregone 
conclusion. 

The principles of the Republican party and its leaders were, 
at this time, studiously perverted by the Democracy, or rather 
that portion of the party who had not as yet been brought to 
see things in their true light ; for some of the better Democrats 
had joined hands with us. The remnant declared that our ob- 
ject was the abolition of slavery, calling us Black Republicans, 
&c. ; when at this time the sole object of the majority, at least, 
was to prohibit the extension of slavery in the Territories, and 
to prevent the spread of that moral plague any farther than it 
had already gone. The Southern people were deluded, par- 
ticularly tliose of the sea ports, with magnificent prospects of 
a direct trade with Europe, by which the dwindling cities of 
the South could be swollen into the importance of Tyre and 
Carthage, enriched with the wealth of the whole commercial 
world. 

President Buchanan we find bound in close ties of political 
sympathy with the prominent partisans of the Southern States, 
selecting his Cabinet from such men as we would call Northern 
dough-faces, and yielding his feeble will to their guidance. 

The traitor, Floyd, who at this period, was Secretary of the 
Treasury, together with the Secretary at War, were doing all 



tlioy could to liclp on tlic fipproacliing Rel)eHion. Our ships 
of war were sent oiY to distant stations, and ammunition and 
guns sent to the Southern forts. 

On the 30th of November, 1859, a resolution was offered in 
the Ilouse of llepresentatives of South Carolina, declaring that 
she. South Carolina, was ready to enter together with other 
slaveholding States, or such as desired prompt action, into the 
formation of a Southern Confederacy. 

On the 25th of April, 1860, the National Democratic Con- 
vention assembled at Charleston, South Carolina, Caleb Cush- 
ing, of Massac I iiisetls, was elected President. The platform 
adopted did not suit the South. Southern delegates withdrew 
and organized a Southern Convention, which met on May 3d. 
After ineffectual attempts, and failing to agree upon a candi- 
date for the Presidency, it adjourned to meet at Richmond, Va. 
The Democratic National Convention adjourned to meet at 
Baltimore, Md. On the 13th of June, a number of delegates 
again withdrew. Those remaining nominated Stephen A. 
Douglas, of Illinois, for President, and Benjamin Fitzpatrick, 
of Alabama, for Vice President, The Seceders nominated John 
C. Breckenridge of Kentucky, then Vice President of the Uni- 
ted States, for President, and Joseph Lane, of Oregon, for Vice 
President. These nominations were afterwards confirmed by 
the Convention at Richmond, Virginia. 

A Constitutional Union Convention met at Baltimore on 
May 9th, and nominated John Bell, of Tennessee, for President, 
and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, for Vice President. 

On the 16th of May, at Chicago, Illinois, the Convention of 
that now imposing party, the National Bepublican, met in con- 
vention, and nominated Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, for Presi- 
dent, and Hannibal Ilamlin, of Maine, for A^ice President. 

Governor Letcher, of Virginia, at that early date, did not 



y 

fear to suggest treason, and declared in his message to tlie 
Legislature, "it is useless to attempt to conceal the fact, that in 
the present temper of the Southern people, it," (alluding to the 
probable election of Mr. Lincoln), ^'cannot, and ivill noL he 
submitted to^ 

On the 16th of November, 1860, Abraham Lincoln, the man 
chosen by God for this place, was elected President. His prin- 
ciples and character are too well known for me to add one 
word of praise or commendation. 

For a long period the South had placed her sons in the 
Presidential chair, had filled the many fat offices under Gov- 
ernment, and when the great Republican part}'- in the North 
sprung into existence, feared they would lose the balance of 
power, which they had so long held. 

The Southern people, who are well known to be brave and 
generous, would never, I say, have plunged into the fearful 
abyss of misery which has been opened by this Eebellion, but 
for the mad schemes of the traitors who led them into it. They 
see their error. Many States are now trying to bring about 
peace. The Vice President, Stephens, himself, has raised his 
voice in favor of peace ; and although he has not yet got on 
the right track, he will, I hope, soon do so. Maryland has 
wheeled back into her old place. Indeed she never left it ; 
although in the early days of the Rebellion she would have 
been dragged into the same position which the rebellious States 
now occupy, but the strong arm of Government held her back. 
She is the first of the Southern States in the glorious work of 
emancipation. Her slaves are now free. She is now no more 
"My Maryland," as the Southern song indicates, but "Our 
Maryland." Soon other States will follow her example, and 
the jubilee of freedom be sounded throughout the entire South. 
The South will then learn for the first time, that the laborer is 
2 



10 

worthy of his hire ; and prove, by experience, that they can 
obtain as much, if not more labor from the freedman than from 
the slave. 

I will now attempt to give you a short history of the Rebel- 
lion from the time that Fort Sumter full, to the time at which 
I left Philadelphia, You are doubtless aware, many of you, 
that James Buchanan was at that period President ; the fear- 
less and intrepid Anderson held and occupied Fort Moultrie ; 
as he was threatened by the Charlestonians under General 
Beauregard, he thought it prudent and advisable to remove 
from that Fort, and occupy Fort Sumter, which he did under 
cover of the night, having first spiked the guns of Fort Moul- 
trie ; he reached Fort Sumter in safety with the gallant band 
of heroes who so long held that Fort against such fearful odd?, 
and only surrendered when the place was in flames; even then 
he dictated terms to the victorious rebels, in that himself, offi- 
cers, and men should be permitted to leave the Fort, not as 
prisoners of war, but with their arms, and the flag which they 
had fought so long and bravely to uphold. It may be asked 
why was the Fort fired upon, ? and some may say that it was 
in consequence of the Government persisting to send a steamer 
into the harbor. Why was this done? She was sent with 
provisions, &c., for the half starved garrison which held the 
place. The Government liad a perfect right to do so; she had 
a perfect right to send men and ammunition also. Was not 
that Fort, as well as all the other Forts, Government property ? 
Would any one in this assemblage say that England had no 
oower to reinforce her Forts or Garrisons at the West Indies, 
Canada, Ireland, or any other spot which she holds ? I pre- 
sume not. The steamer was fired on, and left the harbor; the 
Fort, as I have already stated, was bombarded and taken ; that 
o-lorious old flag was fired on by those who ought to have done 



11 

all they could to protect it ; this firing on the flag roused the 
spirit of the North, and united the people almost as one man. 
James Buchanan could have prevented all this had lie chosen 
so to do, but he, weak old man, by the advice of his counsel- 
lors, argued that he had no power to act. Did ever any sane 
man hear of such folly ? If he had promptly sent a force of a 
few thousand men, and put down the outbreak in Charleston, 
as old England would have done, in all probability we should 
have been sj)ured the liorrid scenes which have since tran- 
spired ; but no, this did not suit the schemes and designs of 
the Secretary of War and others who filled places in his Cabi- 
net ; they had been preparing the South for some time to raise 
its hands against the Government ; our ships of war were dis- 
patched to foreign countries; arms and ammunition from the 
North were plentifully supplied the South, under the pretext 
that the Southern Forts stood in need of such things. The 
sequel is easily guessed at ; the South, elated with the fall of 
Sumter, rushed into the vortex of rebellion ; one State after 
another was coaxed to join South Carolina, which State had 
been for many years concocting this plan ; as far back as the 
time of General Jackson, she had tried nullification, but the 
brave and patriotic Southerner nipped this in the bud ; he 
threatened to hang John C. Calhoun, the great Southern leader 
as high as Ilaman; and but for the interposition of Ilenry 
Clay and Daniel Webster, would perhaps have done so ; they 
generously interceded, and offered pacificatory measures, which 
were adopted, and the life of the Southern statesman was 
spared. Jackson, the hero of New Orleans, was a man who 
would have done what he said, and taken on himself the con- 
sequences, as he afterwards proved, by his breaking up the 
Bank of the United States. But to proceed. Soon after the 
fall of Sumter, the victorious leaders of the Rebellion threat- 



]2 

ened to marcli on Washington, and had they known its weak- 
ness and done so, coukl perhaps have easily taken the capitol. 
If I rememler rightly, the whole force of regulars in Wash- 
ington did not exceed 1000. The militia of the Northern 
States would, however, have rushed to the rescue and retaken 
it. Thus commenced the greatest Rebellion, perhaps, which 
the world ever saw, and which has assumed such gigantic pro- 
portions, that the old countries look on with amazement and 
wonder at the immense armies Avhich both North and South 
have |)ut into the field. Bravely has the South foaght ; the 
great pity is, that they have been fighting in so bad a cause ; 
what possible good could result to the South by disunion ? the 
imaginary line which separated them would soon be crossed 
by the slaves ; the North would not become slave-catchers, 
and give them up to the tender mercies of their owners ; the 
result would be, that intestine wars would again drench the 
land with blood ; it is an utter impossibility for North and 
South to maintain separate Governments, and to live peace- 
ably together; this any reflecting mind will see to be impos- 
sible ; how was it in the days of Wallace and Bruce, when 
such fearful contests took place between England and Scot- 
land? 

Now the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Ireland, and 
Scotland, or, as it is called, the United Kingdom of Great Bri- 
tain and Ireland, live in peace and harmony under the rule of 
the best sovereign that ever filled the throne. Her Majesty, 
Queen Victoria, the good Queen, the exemplary wife and 
mother. Were she to land on the shores of America — I speak 
more particularly of the Northern portion— she would have as 
great a reception as ever greeted her ears, as great a reception 
as if she were passing through her own dominions. Tlie re- 
ception extended to her son, the Prince of AVales, proved what 



13 

the Northern people would do should she ever visit them her- 
self; they knew not the youth, but for the sake of his mother 
they paid him as much respect as if he had been the President 
of the United States, perhaps more. Why did they do this ? 
They felt that in him they beheld the representative of royalty ; 
but more than this, they saw the son of one who has so wisely 
governed the mother country, that great country which gave 
birth to a Pitt, a Wellington, and a Nelson ; that country from 
which they sprung- Who are Americans? x\re they not 
the descendants of Englishmen, Irishmen, and Scotchmen? 
Does not the Anglo-Saxon blood flow in their veins? Why 
is it that they have such indomitable perseverance and energy? 
why such warriors ? The answer is easily given ; they are 
from good stock, from a mother that has yet to see the day 
when she ever turned her back to the foe ; a nation whose 
armies are not afraid to stand the deadly shock of a charge of 
bayonets. There are other nations, perhaps, you may say, 
that will stand this, I contend that no two nations on the face 
of the globe, can compare in this respect with America and 
England. 

But I am digressing from my subject ; to return ; Washing- 
ton was saved, and the President issued his call for 75,000 
volunteers, should have been, perhaps 500,000, but how could 
this be done, we had not the arms to equip them, and must 
wait until we could procure them. The North poured her 
legions forth ; the army hastily organized, took the field. The 
battles which were fought on the soil of Virginia you are 
doubtless aware of ; the North, or rather the Government was 
defeated- Why ? Because the Southerners had been always 
a more warlike people, or rather had studied and practised the 
art of war more than the North; the latter always busy in 
money-making, had neglected to have such a regular system 



14 

of militia as the former ; in fact they did not, as tbey tbouglit, 
require it ; experience lias proved to the contrary. Our men 
fought well, but we wanted good officers ; some of the best had 
embraced the Eebel cause ; experience, however, has made us 
proficient, time has enabled us to equip and put into the field 
army after army, the exigency has raised up Generals and 
other officers, and the closing scenes of the Eebellion are being 
enacted ; the curtain, I trust, will soon fall on the dreadful 
tragedy which has been enacted ; soon may the Olive-branch 
be extended, and the once happy and united people of the 
North and South meet each other in fraternal embrace, bury 
the hatchet of discord, and assume the proud position they 
have so long occupied among the nations of the earth. 

This war has developed a strength which we knew not that 
we possessed. "VVe have a Navy nearly, if not quite equal to 
that of Great Britain, England, and America united ; can dic- 
tate terms to the world. AVhy should they not be united ? 
their interests and their connections demand it ; the ties which 
bind them together demand it ; the cause of liberty throughout 
the world demands it ; and although there may be hard things 
said on both sides, yet I feel that they will be so united ; God 
grant it. I hope not to live to see the day when it shall be 
otherwise. AVhat, shall it be said that the two greatest nations 
on the face of the globe, nations so closely allied, speaking the 
same language, bound together both socially and commercially, 
shall ever be at variance? never. I trust, never. We both 
have a great work yet to perform ; we have to evangelize 
those dark spots where the light of the Gospel of Truth has 
not yet penetrated ; we are fast accomplishing this ; look at 
India, China, Africa ; see what has been done for Liberia, the 
free republic of Africa ; see how it has grown under the foster- 
ing care of the United States and England ; much, however, 



15 

remains to bo done, and we are to do it. Now one word as to 
the flags which arc festooned around me. On my right liangs 
the flag- of England, on my left the flag of America; the latter 
is that of my adoption, the former the one under which I was 
born. Now, although I should deplore any contest which may 
take place between the two great nations which they repre- 
sent, yet I wish you to understand distinctly, that should the 
dread alternative of war come, my sympathies and active ser- 
vice would be with the United States. 

I fear I have tired you with the feeble remarks which I 
have made. My aim and desire has been to give you a truth- 
ful, honest statement of facts so far as my memory has served 
me. If I have been able to accomplish the one object of put- 
ting things in relation to this Rebellion in a proper light be- 
fore you, I am satisfied. 



V60 

















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WERT II ♦ 

BOOKBINDING H, 

Cranio. lie Pa If , 

March tpnl 1989 It? , 



